Panjo

[medition]

I received notice via email that Panjo was taking over the for sale/classifieds advertising, and thought nothing of it. I had zero concerns, and no real interest in seeing what that meant. That is, until today. Someone purchased the RS HVAC panel I listed, and I was notified by Panjo that that was the case, and whether I wanted to be paid. Strange question I thought, so I looked at my Paypal account, and I don't have any money there. I contacted the buyer via email to find out whether he paid, and how much, because I don't even know whether the shipping cost was factored in. Frankly, there's too much of an unknown with some of these services that claim to be for the betterment of the masses. Also, they want 7% of the money, on top of the Paypal fees, which is stupid, as it doesn't help the seller at all, especially one who has been part of a community of enthusiasts for the better part of 4 years at Mazdaroadster.net, and many more years on other forums. If Panjo is the answer, I'm not sure I want to participate. I would much rather pay the webmaster a yearly enthusiast fee, sell my cool stuff here, and benefit myself and others, not some third party money handler. Any thoughts anyone?

[Cxmoney]

I hate Panjo. Always have. Main reason why I sell on the other forums more often than here.

[bogaut]

7 percent?? thats damn near what ebay charges, and ebay reaches a much larger audience.

[RuckkehrMiata]

7 percent?? thats damn near what ebay charges, and ebay reaches a much larger audience.

I don't think I will be doing business with that fee on top of everything else, which is extremely depressing to me. Sure, for the most part, until you hit the $600 price range the fees are sub-$40. idk, I probably won't be selling on panjo now.

[Phatmiata]

Panjo was originally set at the minimum you can set it at which is 1% And the Supporting members are supposed to be exempt from ALL fees.

I will send Panjo an email to see what's going on. And FWIW eBay charges 15%+++ and they also now charge 15% of your shipping charges. I sell stuff on ebay as well.

Regardless there is probably not many forums that would want to charge 7% in fees. And if that is the case I can just drop the service since it's optional anyhow.

I will respond back in this thread as soon as I hear back from Panjo.

[RuckkehrMiata]

If that is true about supporting members I could retract my statement. Although I still don't know how others would feel. I don't sell on ebay, or very often, I just worry that a 7% fee on top of paypal/shipping would make me impulse not sell.

Thanks Phat for sorting it out.

[artcentermiata]

I used to enjoy Panjo's interface when it was less of a standalone to this site...

But now its taken way too many liberties- and making a simple classified ad has become a huge hassle... Having to think about fees, raising your pricing, and not being able to simply offer shipping or local pickup in the same ad without measuring a box and weighing it is a crazy amount of work for a forum marketplace.

Im not losing 7+3% in fees for a parts im already going to lose money on because of value loss / haggling

[RuckkehrMiata]

I think right now the motivation is Phat is looking into it, and this wasn't supposed to happen.

[Phatmiata]

My guess is that was some new default setting for the panjo software.

I remember when we first installed it I had to change the default setting from a higher amount down to the bare minimum.

Either way I'm going to resolve this guys. Please have some patience.

[Agent☣Orange]

If that is true about supporting members I could retract my statement. Although I still don't know how others would feel. I don't sell on ebay, or very often, I just worry that a 7% fee on top of paypal/shipping would make me impulse not sell.

Thanks Phat for sorting it out.


That is correct. We've had some technical problems during the past couple of weeks, a couple of them Panjo related. Their own tech comes in and admins it, maintains it and fixes any problems their coders might have missed.

I think when they installed a newer version, it defaulted to the 7% anomaly mentioned already. I don't know because I haven't seen any fees. I assure you, nobody here just abruptly decided to raise fees, especially for supporting member who should continue to use the service for free.

[Hyper]

I was charged a lot of money in Panjo fees when I sold the FM twin cooler

[Phatmiata]

I was charged a lot of money in Panjo fees when I sold the FM twin cooler

How much as the item, and how much was the charge in fees, please define "a lot of money"

[Phatmiata]

I received notice via email that Panjo was taking over the for sale/classifieds advertising, and thought nothing of it. I had zero concerns, and no real interest in seeing what that meant. That is, until today. Someone purchased the RS HVAC panel I listed, and I was notified by Panjo that that was the case, and whether I wanted to be paid. Strange question I thought, so I looked at my Paypal account, and I don't have any money there. I contacted the buyer via email to find out whether he paid, and how much, because I don't even know whether the shipping cost was factored in. Frankly, there's too much of an unknown with some of these services that claim to be for the betterment of the masses. Also, they want 7% of the money, on top of the Paypal fees, which is stupid, as it doesn't help the seller at all, especially one who has been part of a community of enthusiasts for the better part of 4 years at Mazdaroadster.net, and many more years on other forums. If Panjo is the answer, I'm not sure I want to participate. I would much rather pay the webmaster a yearly enthusiast fee, sell my cool stuff here, and benefit myself and others, not some third party money handler. Any thoughts anyone?

Frank,

Did you notice I was the person that purchased the AD Door Handles??? You said you had problems in Panjo and getting your money?? It shows on my paypal that the money was sent directly to you, in fact it even added $12.65 in shipping. What does it show on your side?? You should not have any fees since you are a supporting member.

[Panjo]

I received notice via email that Panjo was taking over the for sale/classifieds advertising, and thought nothing of it. I had zero concerns, and no real interest in seeing what that meant. That is, until today. Someone purchased the RS HVAC panel I listed, and I was notified by Panjo that that was the case, and whether I wanted to be paid. Strange question I thought, so I looked at my Paypal account, and I don't have any money there. I contacted the buyer via email to find out whether he paid, and how much, because I don't even know whether the shipping cost was factored in. Frankly, there's too much of an unknown with some of these services that claim to be for the betterment of the masses. Also, they want 7% of the money, on top of the Paypal fees, which is stupid, as it doesn't help the seller at all, especially one who has been part of a community of enthusiasts for the better part of 4 years at Mazdaroadster.net, and many more years on other forums. If Panjo is the answer, I'm not sure I want to participate. I would much rather pay the webmaster a yearly enthusiast fee, sell my cool stuff here, and benefit myself and others, not some third party money handler. Any thoughts anyone?

Medition - sorry I am just getting to this thread now. Panjo and Mazda Roadster have been partners for a while. The email you received last week was related to a new configuration between Panjo and Mazda Roadster. The gallery view of the Mazda Roadster marketplace (http://www.panjo.com/p/mazdaroadster) moved from one location to another. If you didn't have money in your PayPal account immediately post sale, that means that you didn't supply your PayPal account info when you created your listing. That is optional. In that case (your case) Panjo will still allow a buyer to purchase the item for the asking price and subsequently confirm that you have the item and are willing to ship to the buyer's location. Post confirmation, Panjo transfers the buyer's payment to you. You can optionally add a PayPal account to your marketplace account at any time so that you will be paid immediately upon purchase. Mazda Roadster members DO NOT pay a 7% transaction fee. Panjo is fee free for Supporting members. Non supporting members pay a 2% transaction fee, 100% of which goes to fund the operating costs of the forum.

[Panjo]

I was charged a lot of money in Panjo fees when I sold the FM twin cooler

Hyper - Here is your profile page with your sales record:
http://www.panjo.com/profile/mp_455_hyper

I see you sold your FM twin cooler on March 24, 2015.

For the $525 sale, you incurred:
$10.50 (2% non supporting member transaction fee.)
$15.53 (2.9% + $0.30 PayPal payment processing fee)
$26.03 total on the $525 sale.

NEW TOPIC - I am going to reach out to you independently. I see that your account seems to have not upgraded as a result of a username conflict issue.

[Hyper]

Hyper - Here is your profile page with your sales record:
http://www.panjo.com/profile/mp_455_hyper

I see you sold your FM twin cooler on March 24, 2015.

For the $525 sale, you incurred:
$10.50 (2% non supporting member transaction fee.)
$15.53 (2.9% + $0.30 PayPal payment processing fee)
$26.03 total on the $525 sale.

NEW TOPIC - I am going to reach out to you independently. I see that your account seems to have not upgraded as a result of a username conflict issue.



Hello Panjo

Please understand my post was not about complaining about your service. I am very happy with your service and I don't mind paying a reasonable fee but to ensure the information is correct and that it was not only Panjo but also Paypal combined I paid in transaction and processing fees the total amount of $26.03.

Thank you for responding!

[Agent☣Orange]

Okay, having posted a test ad and looking into this more carefully, I see that our membership is having to register an account on Panjo's own website. We are a Panjo partner so nobody here should be subjected to a seven percent fee (plus PayPal and shipping fees) but I suspect the problem is related to our members not following through with the surprise registration requirement on Panjo.com through their email prompt, not that they should be expected to register on a separate site in the first place. Regardless, I'd rather throw something in the dumpster than pay somebody to take it off my hands.

If they don't register, then yes, they're subjected to an industry-first and shamelessly-stiff seven-percent selling fee (+PayPal and shipping) that Panjo just imposed on non-partnered members that they'll then have to go through the hasle via Panjo's part-time, customer support on their own to resolve.

Beyond that hassle, our members then discover a glaring lack of shipping options such as local pickup or international shipping while being forced to calculate shipping into the initial selling price despite unknowable variances in costs.

Also on the list is that our members are placed into an eBay-like marketplace that while Panjo promotes PayPal as the most expedient way to get paid, inexplicably omits a PayPal button to purchase anything, despite members being previously verified.

In my opinion, these are glaring and inexplicable shortcomings that any eager startup should have worked out in the very first planning meet. Instead of moving forward toward efficiency, Panjo has become an aggravating step backward, several steps backwards it seems. In fact, I'm struggling to justify why we should promote this to our loyal membership when traditional forum classifieds work more efficiently.

While we are intrigued by some of the features Panjo somewhat delivers, we were surprised at the abrupt usurptation of our member ads on a foreign site along with a half-baked monetization scheme as the latest tactic. As MR.net leadership, we were left in the dark about Panjo's future strategies but now have to put out the fires. Moreover, now we're wondering if Panjo is simply poising itself for an IPO or PayPal buyout for instance, leading to even more abrupt changes.

In the most basic sense, our membership just wants to buy and sell in the most transparent way possible and not have jump through hoops to do so.

[Phatmiata]

Any active members "for" or "against" speak your peace now (in a constructive manner)

[RuckkehrMiata]

Any active members "for" or "against" speak your peace now (in a constructive manner)

If the issues mentioned by AgentOrange can be resolved, I would be for this. I would like seeing a more progressive marketplace.

However, at the moment, based on AgentOrange's discovery action, it feels like it might not be suitable for us without tweaks. If panjo would be unable to work with us, I could see it generating more resentment long-term and possibly harming MR as a place to list ads.

I don't want to sh&t all over Panjo, and I'm not afraid of change. I just want to be sure the change is constructive. A wider market would be wonderful if it can be executed elegantly.

Edit: I don't use the marketplace nearly as much as some people, I would like to see the opinions of people who regularly do sales on here.

[bogaut]

i would list a lot more on here if it was a traditional for sale forum vs panjo.

[Demon I Am]

I didn't mind Panjo the way it was, and would not mind the additional eyes on my items FS, but all this extra fees, extra logging in just seems like a turn-off. I am not a higher-volume seller, so it's not the worst thing ever, but I do think the process needs to be less complex.

[freedomgli]

i would list a lot more on here if it was a traditional for sale forum vs panjo.

The downside of a traditional sale forum is all the scammers out there ripping people off, flaky buyers and sellers, etc. Panjo was the price users paid for some protection. It wasn't escrow but it was better than nothing. That MR.net was able to collect a small fee was a nice bonus. But it seems the balance has been disrupted and users may no longer see the same value that they once did.